The Trauma of Afghanistan for German Soldiers Returning Home

Many soldiers report that Afghanistan opened them up to a whole new world. What they confronted there was different from what they had been prepared for, they say. They cannot forget the impressions from the areas in which they are deployed: bombed-out buildings, rubble, children wearing rags.

Heinz Fischer, a sergeant major who has survived four spells in Afghanistan, staying there for four to six months at a stretch, says that the soldiers are most taken aback by the poverty and sheer misery. Moreover, they are constantly accompanied by fear.

Constant fear

"You might be going along a road for two kilometres", says the 44-year-old, "a dirt road with two lanes and then road tankers will be coming from the other direction and any of them can explode. Or there are people in the fields, working, they will wave and then bend over and come up with an anti-tank missile. I’ve seen that before."

Such scenes leave their mark. Images of wounded friends or killed children are hard to forget. This year, 135 German soldiers have sought psychological advice in military hospitals.

But the number of estimated unreported cases is higher. Soldiers are not always able to open up, to talk about their feelings, says Dr Peter Zimmermann, a senior army doctor. He heads the psychiatry and psychotherapy department at the military hospital in Berlin. The 42-year-old explains, "what we’re now getting with Afghanistan has a different quality in terms of the burden. Whether the figures are really increasing is something we want to examine by looking into the unreported cases but the need for treatment is certainly increasing -- that much is already clear. In the coming months and years, we will probably have to ensure that there is more scope for treatment."

Feelings of guilt

He thinks it is important to ensure that soldiers can get help when they return to Germany. He is a co-founder of the online anonymous help service "Attack on the Soul".

The site is mainly used by younger soldiers. Zimmermann explains that many of them have feelings of guilt that they cannot get rid of. Company Sergeant Major Fischer knows what Zimmermann is talking about.

"A bomb goes off", he recalls an incident in Afghanistan. "We’re sitting in a tank, thank god, but it hits the civilian population. You see injured civilians, maybe children as well. That was often the case in Kunduz. And you’re a soldier there and then they tell you that on top of all this, it’s happening because you’re there. It’s hard to come to terms with that."

This is why it helps to have a strong family environment, says Fischer, who is responsible for giving advice and care to soldiers. He adds that the feelings of guilt are exacerbated by the negative attitude to the war in German society.

There are currently 3,400 German troops in Afghanistan. The new government has said it will not increase the numbers.

Author: Melanie Riedel / Anne Thomas
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein